Danes' cultural characteristics and attitudes towards Muslims and the Muhammad cartoons

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2013-03-15

Department

Towson University. Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies

Program

Citation of Original Publication

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Subjects

Abstract

The study explored how young Danes' cultural characteristics affect their attitudes towards Muslims and the Muhammad cartoons. Approximately 226 respondents between the ages 18 and 29 filled out a survey that included three different instruments measuring 1) cultural characteristics, 2) attitudes towards Muslims, and 3) attitudes towards the Muhammad cartoons. A factor analysis was run on all three instruments and three "cultural characteristics" factors were generated while only one "attitudes towards Muslims" and one "attitudes towards the Muhammad cartoons" factor were generated. The analysis indicated that young Danes have negative attitudes towards Muslims. Regressions were then run to see if the three cultural characteristics factors influenced Danes attitudes towards Muslims and the Muhammad cartoons. The results demonstrated that the factors "self definition" and "low need for security" influenced Danes attitudes towards Muslims while "self definition" and "equality" influenced Danes' attitudes towards the Muhammad cartoons.